The present invention relates to smoking articles, such as cigarettes having a fuel element physically separate from an aerosol-generating material and more particularly for a fuel element for a smoking article.
Cigarettes, cigars and pipes are popular smoking articles which use tobacco in various forms as the medium which upon being ignited provides an aerosol vapor flavorable material to the consumer. In recent years, it has become desirable to provide a smoking article wherein the aerosol-generating material, including tobacco, is heated to a temperature sufficient to vaporize the aerosol-generating flavors in the tobacco and pipe materials, but the temperature is not sufficient for combustion.
Many of the smoking article devices suggested in the art are adapted to look like conventional smoking articles, such as cigarettes while other devices have been developed as an alternative to conventional smoking articles. These articles generally attempt to simulate conventional cigarettes without the combustion of tobacco products. For example, many devices include an internal aerosol forming material that is heated by an internal heating element. The heating stimulates the production of a flavorable aerosol for delivery to a user of the device. The internal heating element has conventionally been either a carbonaceous fuel element or an electrical chemical heat source, such as combinations of metal oxide, and hydrous metal sulphide, metal sulphate and organic salt and a sugar which generate heat on contact with water. In these devices, the cigarette is not capable of being reused. Once the carbonaceous fuel element is lit, it continues to burn unattended until all the fuel in the element is consumed. The lit fuel element is very difficult to extinguish, either with water or other means for extinguishment. In an electro-chemical reaction, the difficulty is countered in stopping the reaction which only terminates when all of the reactants are consumed. Further devices include an electrical l heating element for stimulating an aerosol forming substance. Although these are capable of being turned off between puffs, the electrical heating element requires a battery which requires extra efforts by the consumer and also is generally quite cumbersome. Some of the earlier patents relating to aerosol-generating smoking articles are to be found in United Kingdom patent specification numbers, 1,033,674 and 1,083,761 (Battelle Memorial Institute). Other patents which teach smoking articles capable of providing the pleasure associated with cigarette smoking by heating, but not necessarily burning tobacco, or other similar type materials, and without delivering considerable quantities of uncomplete combustion products, include for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,065,776 to Lawson et al which teaches a fuel element positioned in heat exchange relationship with a physically separate aerosol-generating means and U.S. Pat. No. 5,144,962 which teaches a non-combustion smoking article which includes a hollow tube with tobacco therein and the heat vaporizing the aerosols in the tobacco is a temperature co-efficient thermistor in thermal contact with the tobacco wherein the thermistor is heated with an electrical current. Thus, it is desirable to provide an article that closely simulates a conventional cigarette but does not require the combustion of tobacco and can be reused.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a fuel element for a smoking article as a heat source to vaporize flavoring compounds of a smoking article.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a fuel element for a smoking article which is reusable.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a smoking article which can have the appearance of a conventional cigarette.
It is an even further object of the present invention to provide a smoking article which includes a reusable fuel element in a conventional cigarette.
More particularly, the present invention provides a fuel element for a smoking article and a smoking article including the fuel element. The fuel element includes a fuel tank with a fuel cartridge therein which is generally porous with a liquid fuel therein. A wick is in flow communication with the fuel cartridge and a glow filament is disposed adjacent to the wick and glows in response to the burning of fuel in the wick. The smoking article includes a hollow tube with a flavor generating material disposed within the tube, such as a commercially available cigarette, and a fuel element is disposed in the tube and adjacent the flavor generating material.